Report:
The Forrester Wave™: Edge Development Platforms, Q4 2023
How does Forrester define the Edge Development Platforms market in 2023?
Edge computing has arrived, and edge development platforms offer the smoothest glide path to unlock edge's power for everyday enterprises. Distributing workloads where they can deliver maximum value to customer engagement in retail and digital experiences, or in critical use cases like on the manufacturing floor or in autonomous vehicles, is notoriously complex. Today's edge development platforms are increasingly enterprise grade, featuring robust web application security, AI-enhanced workload affinity, and support for a variety of use cases and workload types. Rising adoption data and significant boosts to revenue and paying customers highlight the growing need for enterprises to deliver applications in a variety of domains that can support ultra-low-latency use cases.
Key Facts for The Forrester Wave™: Edge Development Platforms, Q4 2023 in 2023
- Publication Date: 26-Nov-2023
- Document ID: RES179973
- Summary: In our 33-criterion evaluation of edge development platform providers, we identified the most significant ones and researched, analyzed, and scored them. This report shows how each provider measures up and helps application development and delivery professionals select the right one for their needs.
- Authors: Devin Dickerson, Chris Gardner, Dan Beaton, Kara Hartig
How did the Edge Development Platforms market evolve in 2023?
- Edge computing has arrived, and edge development platforms offer the smoothest glide path to unlock edge's power for everyday enterprises
- Today's edge development platforms are increasingly enterprise grade, featuring robust web application security, AI-enhanced workload affinity, and support for a variety of use cases and workload types
- This is in stark contrast from 2021 when edge development was primarily the purview of R&D and experimentation
- Rising adoption data and significant boosts to revenue and paying customers highlight the growing need for enterprises to deliver applications that support ultra-low-latency use cases
- 12 providers were evaluated in this Forrester Wave assessment
- Edge development platforms now support distributing workloads for customer engagement in retail, digital experiences, manufacturing floor operations, and autonomous vehicles
- The market has evolved from experimental offerings lacking enterprise maturity to robust platforms suitable for production deployments
What product features are required to be included in this year's evaluation?
- Product execution characteristics that support workloads running at the edge. Edge development platforms are distinct from public cloud FaaS platforms, installable function platforms, and container platforms in that they enable the development of distributed applications, support ultra-low-latency use cases, and do not require developers to manually solve the inherent complexities of distributed applications as managed services.
- Forrester client relevance. As use of and interest in edge development platforms have grown among Forrester clients, we have seen a corresponding spike in inbound inquiries with clients asking about the edge development platforms represented.
- Product revenue. Each vendor has an edge development platform available in the market that has generated no less than $10 million in revenue.
What are the common features of top products in the Edge Development Platforms space?
No common features specified.
Scope Exclusions
- Public cloud FaaS platforms without edge-specific capabilities
- Installable function platforms that don't support distributed edge deployments
- Container platforms without edge development platform features
- Solutions requiring developers to manually solve distributed application complexities
- Platforms that don't support ultra-low-latency use cases
- Vendors with less than $10 million in product revenue
Inclusion Criteria
Vendors must, among other requirements:
- Product execution characteristics that support workloads running at the edge
- Edge development platforms are distinct from public cloud FaaS platforms, installable function platforms, and container platforms
- Enable development of distributed applications and support ultra-low-latency use cases
- Do not require developers to manually solve inherent complexities of distributed applications as managed services
- Forrester client relevance - growing use and interest among Forrester clients
- Product revenue of no less than $10 million
Offering Strengths — Relative Weighting
- Developer experience — 20%
- Programming model — 10%
- Runtime execution environment — 20%
- Observability — 10%
- Integrations — 10%
- Security features — 15%
- Specialized workload support — 15%
Strategy Strength — Relative Weighting
- Vision — 15%
- Innovation — 20%
- Roadmap — 20%
- Partner ecosystem — 15%
- Adoption — 15%
- Pricing flexibility and transparency — 15%
FAQs
Q: What does this research cover?
A: This research covers a 33-criterion evaluation of the 12 most significant edge development platform providers, analyzing how each vendor measures up across current offering capabilities, strategy, and market presence. The evaluation focuses on platforms that enable developers to build and deploy distributed applications at the edge, supporting ultra-low-latency use cases across various domains including web development, IoT, manufacturing, and digital experiences.
Q: Who should use this research?
A: Application development and delivery professionals should use this research to select the right edge development platform for their needs. It helps enterprises shortlist vendors that reduce the complexity of building and deploying globally distributed applications, comparing providers based on developer experience, workload support, security features, scale, resilience, and operational complexity reduction.
Q: What are the mandatory features of vendors included in this market?
A: Edge development platforms must support workloads running at the edge and be distinct from public cloud FaaS, installable function platforms, and container platforms. They must enable development of distributed applications, support ultra-low-latency use cases, and provide managed services that abstract the complexities of distributed applications. Vendors must demonstrate Forrester client relevance with growing interest and inquiries, and must have generated at least $10 million in product revenue.
Q: What are some reasons for not being included in this report?
A:
- Product revenue below $10 million threshold
- Lack of edge-specific capabilities (being only a public cloud FaaS platform)
- Requiring developers to manually solve distributed application complexities
- Insufficient support for ultra-low-latency use cases
- Limited Forrester client relevance or interest
- Not enabling distributed application development
- Functioning only as installable function or container platform without edge features
Q: What should buyers consider when evaluating products in this market?
A:
- Look for providers that enable developers to build and deploy applications where they deliver maximum value
- Balance developer experience considerations with needs for specialized workload and use case support
- Seek platforms that reduce complexity of edge development and platform operations
- Consider platforms with innovative edge compute infrastructure, data services, workload affinity, and built-in integrations
- Ensure enterprise requirements for scale, resilience, and security are met
- Evaluate DDoS and denial-of-wallet protection capabilities
- Consider whether you need specialized edge-native platform or cloud extension
- Assess trade-offs in flexibility and operating models
- Evaluate positive developer experience and workload affinity as critical differentiators
- Look for seamless onboarding, robust development and packaging tools, sample code and best practices
Q: How has the Edge Development Platforms market evolved in 2023?
A:
- Edge development platforms have evolved from R&D and experimentation to enterprise-grade solutions
- Platforms now feature robust web application security and AI-enhanced workload affinity
- Support for variety of use cases and workload types is expanding
- Rising adoption data and significant boosts to revenue and paying customers
- Growing need for ultra-low-latency use cases across retail, manufacturing, and autonomous vehicles
- Shift from experimental platforms to production-ready enterprise solutions since 2021 evaluation
- Platforms handle globally distributed deployments to reduce complexity
- Focus on seamless developer onboarding and intelligent workload placement
- Emerging development approaches like serverless functions and WebAssembly gaining traction
Q: What differentiates Strength of Offering vs. Strength of Strategy?
A: Current Offering (50% weighting) focuses on the technical capabilities and features of the platform including developer experience, programming model, runtime environment, observability, integrations, security, and specialized workload support. Strategy (50% weighting) evaluates the vendor's vision for the market, innovation capabilities, product roadmap, partner ecosystem strength, user adoption rates, and pricing flexibility. Current Offering assesses what the platform can do today, while Strategy evaluates the vendor's direction and ability to evolve with market needs.
Reference
- Forrester, The Forrester Wave™: Edge Development Platforms, Q4 2023, 26-Nov-2023, ID RES179973
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